Tag

One Health

All articles tagged with #one health

What we still need to learn about Ebola’s animal origins to stop the next outbreak
environment12 days ago

What we still need to learn about Ebola’s animal origins to stop the next outbreak

Amid rising Bundibugyo Ebola concerns, the piece argues that the true wildlife transmission pathways of Ebola viruses remain poorly understood—bats are often blamed but not proven—making surveillance and prevention challenging. It advocates a One Health approach linking wildlife, livestock, and human health to reduce spillover, warns against ill-informed wildlife culling, and stresses that political and funding hurdles complicate the research needed to avert larger future outbreaks.

Trail woodchips show promise in cutting tick presence
science-tech1 month ago

Trail woodchips show promise in cutting tick presence

A University of Ottawa study found that distributing woodchip borders along forest trail edges significantly reduces blacklegged tick numbers—about half—while deltamethrin-treated woodchips cut ticks by roughly 99% on treated segments. Framed as a One Health environmental intervention using recycled woodchips, this approach could offer a cost-effective way to protect trail users, though feasibility likely limits use to wide, high-use trails and must be paired with personal protection measures and tick surveillance.

WHO: Global Death Toll From Foodborne Illness Surges
health1 month ago

WHO: Global Death Toll From Foodborne Illness Surges

New WHO estimates for 2021 place foodborne disease at about 866 million illnesses and 1.52 million deaths worldwide, with a $647 billion productivity loss. Metals like arsenic and lead account for a large share of deaths, and Africa and Southeast Asia bear most of the burden. Children under five are disproportionately affected. The report urges a One Health approach, stronger surveillance, cross‑sector coordination, and action on climate change and antimicrobial resistance to curb this preventable toll.

Avian parasite detected in Portugal's Lake Alqueva signals rising swimmer's itch risk
health2 months ago

Avian parasite detected in Portugal's Lake Alqueva signals rising swimmer's itch risk

Researchers confirmed Trichobilharzia franki, an avian schistosome, in Lake Alqueva, Portugal—the first official record in the country—finding infected Radix auricularia snails and linking Lake Alqueva to swimmer’s itch risk; while overall snail infection is low (0.6% lake-wide, 13.8% at the Campinho site), migratory birds may spread the parasite, prompting calls for ongoing water monitoring and One Health public health awareness.

Global AMR wave: common infections resisting antibiotics worldwide
science2 months ago

Global AMR wave: common infections resisting antibiotics worldwide

A global review led by Jilin University and Peking Union Medical College Hospital finds antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not a distant threat but a present crisis: common infections are increasingly no longer treatable with standard antibiotics, with regional patterns influenced by policy, practice, and environmental use; bacteria such as E. coli and Klebsiella show β-lactamase activity in parts of Asia while carbapenem resistance climbs in Europe and the Americas, and fungi like Candida auris also resist multiple drugs. Reversing the trend requires rapid diagnostics, precision dosing, smarter drug combinations, and robust national surveillance and stewardship, plus cutting agricultural antibiotic use and pursuing new antibiotics and antifungals within a One Health framework. The study appears in the Medical Journal of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Wildlife as vectors for antibiotic‑resistant bacteria across ecosystems
animals2 months ago

Wildlife as vectors for antibiotic‑resistant bacteria across ecosystems

A study of wildlife in northern Italy finds foxes and several bird species carry hospital-linked Klebsiella pneumoniae strains that resist multiple antibiotics, including the NDM-5 gene, signaling that antibiotic resistance is present beyond clinical settings. Researchers say wildlife can act as sentinels for environmental contamination and help map how resistance travels through ecosystems, aided by factors like wastewater and waste runoff. The findings show a low prevalence (about 2%) but indicate environmental reservoirs of high‑risk clones (like ST307) and shared plasmids, highlighting the need for broader wildlife monitoring and cleaner wastewater to slow the spread.

Dry soil could accelerate antibiotic resistance, study says
science2 months ago

Dry soil could accelerate antibiotic resistance, study says

New research suggests drought-stressed soil speeds up the natural processes that create and spread antibiotic resistance, as bacteria in dry, crowded pockets produce more antibiotics and exchange resistance genes. While some studies find correlations between arid regions and higher hospital infections, causation isn’t proven and other factors like tracking and healthcare access play a role. The findings emphasize the environment’s role in antibiotic resistance and the One Health perspective, linking climate-driven ecological change to human health and urging closer environmental monitoring alongside medical stewardship.

Four advances aim to outpace antibiotic resistance and reboot modern medicine
science-tech5 months ago

Four advances aim to outpace antibiotic resistance and reboot modern medicine

Antibiotic resistance threatens a century of medical progress, but four broad advances are reshaping the landscape: faster, on-site diagnostics; expansion beyond traditional antibiotics through nontraditional therapies (including bacteriophages and microbiome-based approaches and CRISPR antimicrobials); recognizing resistance spreads across ecosystems with One Health approaches; and policy reforms to incentivize antibiotic development, aiming to diagnose earlier, widen treatment options, and safeguard medicines for the future.

Bacteria Infecting Cattle Now Threatening Human Health
health10 months ago

Bacteria Infecting Cattle Now Threatening Human Health

A recent study shows that Salmonella Dublin strains infecting cattle are genetically very similar to those infecting humans and environmental sources in the U.S., indicating active cross-transmission and the need for integrated control strategies across animal, human, and environmental health to prevent severe illness and antimicrobial resistance.

"New Model Reveals Complexity of Zoonotic Disease Transmission"
health2 years ago

"New Model Reveals Complexity of Zoonotic Disease Transmission"

Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna have developed a "zoonotic web" to map the complex interactions of zoonotic diseases in Austria, highlighting the importance of a holistic One Health approach. The study, published in Nature Communications, identifies key transmission routes and influential actors in zoonotic disease dynamics, emphasizing the need for public awareness and effective surveillance programs.

"WHO at 75: Prioritizing 'Health for All' in the Year Ahead"
health3 years ago

"WHO at 75: Prioritizing 'Health for All' in the Year Ahead"

As the World Health Organization (WHO) marks its 75th anniversary, global health specialists suggest new initiatives for the organization to adopt. These include focusing on adolescent health, increasing trust in WHO, considering the ethics of health, protecting the environment through the One Health approach, reducing bureaucracy for faster response times, giving WHO more autonomy to respond to disasters, paying attention to long COVID, and identifying the most vulnerable populations to act as their voice and champion.